Biography

He was born at Talence

Talence

Talence is a commune in the Gironde department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.It is the third-largest suburb of the city of Bordeaux, and is adjacent to it on the south side...

, Gironde

Gironde

For the Revolutionary party, see Girondists.Gironde is a common name for the Gironde estuary, where the mouths of the Garonne and Dordogne rivers merge, and for a department in the Aquitaine region situated in southwest France.-History:...

.

After having graduated with the highest honors at the École Polytechnique

École Polytechnique

The École Polytechnique is a state-run institution of higher education and research in Palaiseau, Essonne, France, near Paris. Polytechnique is renowned for its four year undergraduate/graduate Master's program...

 and École des Ponts et Chaussées

École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées

Founded in 1747, the École nationale des ponts et chaussées , often referred to as les Ponts, is the world's oldest civil engineering school...

, he was attached as engineer to the Southern Railroad; and under his direction the lines from Tech to Rivesaltes and from Tet to Perpignan were built, including the remarkable viaduct of Bouzanne

Bouzanne

The Bouzanne is an long river in the Indre département of central France, and is a tributary of the Creuse. Its source is in the commune of Aigurande, northwest of the town itself, near the hamlet of la Bouzanne...

. Afterward Carvallo became director of the work of canalizing the Ebro

Ebro

The Ebro or Ebre is one of the most important rivers in the Iberian Peninsula. It is the biggest river by discharge volume in Spain.The Ebro flows through the following cities:*Reinosa in Cantabria.*Miranda de Ebro in Castile and León....

 (Spain); and he established in the delta of that river a system of irrigation which permitted the cultivation of enormous tracts of land hitherto unproductive. From Spain Carvallo went to Italy, where he directed the works of the Roman railroads. On his return to Spain he was entrusted with the building of the line from Pamplona

Pamplona

Pamplona is the historial capital city of Navarre, in Spain, and of the former kingdom of Navarre.The city is famous worldwide for the San Fermín festival, from July 6 to 14, in which the running of the bulls is one of the main attractions...

 to Zaragoza

Zaragoza

Zaragoza , also called Saragossa in English, is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain...

, and later became the chief engineer of a Spanish water company.

Carvallo was the author of many dissertations printed in the Comptes-Rendus do l'Académic des Sciences and in many other scientific publications. Among his numerous contributions the most noteworthy were those on the piling up and solidification of embankments; on the formula of the maximum of stability and minimum of expense in public works; on the laws of oscillation of chain bridges, etc.

Amid his numerous works, Carvallo found time to devote himself to Jewish interests. He was one of the founders of the Alliance Israélite Universelle

Alliance Israélite Universelle

The Alliance Israélite Universelle is a Paris-based international Jewish organization founded in 1860 by the French statesman Adolphe Crémieux to safeguard the human rights of Jews around the world...

, and for many years served on the executive committee of that institution. He was a Saint-Simon

Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon

Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon, often referred to as Henri de Saint-Simon was a French early socialist theorist whose thought influenced the foundations of various 19th century philosophies; perhaps most notably Marxism, positivism and the discipline of sociology...

ian. According to M. Chouraqui

Chouraqui

Chouraqui is a surname, and may refer to:* André Chouraqui , Jewish Tunisian-French lawyer and politician , French kaaret player* Élie Chouraqui , Jewish French director , French photographer...

, he was considered too open to Christianity, in that he considered the possibility that Jesus had a mission from providence.